The future is now ... and it’s not that bad

Tuesday

Dec 11, 2012 at 2:02 PMDec 11, 2012 at 2:06 PM

You could just as easily have convinced me that I would one day be an astronaut standing on the red dust of Mars as you could have convinced me that I would be 41-years old, married and settled into my own home.

Michael Jones, michaeljones@stuttgartdailyleader.com

Well, another year is nearly over and when I stop to take stock of my life as it stands I must confess that I had no idea that this is where I'd be or who I'd be. Back when I was a teenager that was something I used to do, y'know? Sitting there with a calculator in my hand I'd think about what my life might be light in some far away year, like 1990 or 2000 or 2011.

Born in 1971 those seemed like such faraway things to me, those dates. You could just as easily have convinced me that I would one day be an astronaut standing on the red dust of Mars as you could have convinced me that I would be 41-years old, married and settled into my own home. Heck, as a Louisiana boy you could have done that just by daring to suggest that one day I'd be living in Arkansas… in the FUTURE.

future is now however and it's not that bad. Of course it's not the one my12-year-old self would have chosen as back then I could not have comprehended still being alive in a world without either of my parents in it, but I would also never have guessed I'd be happily married to a woman foolish enough to love me as much as I love her.

Heck, at 12 if you'd have told me a girl that wasn't a relative would have even spoken to me I'd have looked at you like you were an alien. In 1983 the idea of marriage might have been more strange to me than Mars.

Mars I'd read about at least thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In many ways the days and years of my youth are just a hazy dream. The way I thought and dreamt about my future is now how I look back upon my past…with a wistful smile and absolutely no clue about any specifics.

What was my life going to be like when I was 41? I had no clue. I'm pretty sure I'd have hoped I was doing something with art and writing but other than that I wouldn't have had a clue. Ask me now what my average day was like when I was 12 now that I am 41…and my answer is going to be the same.

I'd like to think my average day was spent drawing and writing and living my life.

Now that we're about to roll into 2013 that's my hope for the future at this point in my life. I hope I get to keep writing and that I always have a job dealing with art or graphics. I hope to remain in this wonderful town I've found myself lucky enough to live in and in this building that I've amazingly found myself working in once again.

Most importantly, though, I hope I survive the holidays — T-Minus 12 days and counting until Mother-In-Law-Pocalypse is upon us — so that I can make it until 2013. If I succeed then I'll finally have an answer for my 12-year-old self when I was wondering what life would be like 30 years from now.